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More police patrols of Bristol to Bath Railway Path after another wave of attacks on cyclists

At least three attacks on cyclists within a week

Police say they will increase patrols on the Bristol to Bath Railway Path following further attacks on cyclists. In the past week, riders have variously been punched, kicked off and had broken bottles thrown at them.

The Bristol Post reports that at around 7pm on Tuesday evening Peter Finney was cycling home to Cotham from his work in Bath.

As he passed the Morrisons store and the old Fishponds station, he saw a group of teenagers ahead of him on the path.

Finney said one threw a bottle over a cyclist heading in the opposite direction, then picked up a broken chunk and threw it at him “from pretty much point blank range.”

He rode away and then stopped to warn a stream of cyclists heading in the opposite direction what lay ahead.

On Thursday, Becky Mann was riding home from work to Greenbank at around 7pm when she passed through a group of young people on the path close to the Devon Road bridge section in Easton.

One of them kicked her bike hard enough to send her into a wall.

“I thought ‘I’m not having this,’” said Mann. “So I got off my bike and turned to have a go at him, to tell him that was not on and to get some manners.

“Someone else went past on their bike and shouted that the others were nicking my bike. I’d literally stepped off it and turned my back on it for a few seconds.

“I turned back and one of the lads was getting on it and attempting to ride it away. He got away with me running after him, but I couldn’t keep up.”

The thief tried to take the bike up the bank and off the cycle path. “Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, this man was there. He must’ve been on the street and heard me shouting and came to see. He literally stood in front of the lad, put his hands on my bike and the lad jumped off and ran away.”

Also on Thursday night, a cyclist was ‘punched to the chest’ as he weaved through a group further down the cycle path.

Last month cyclists were threatened with a knife by a gang of youths and one was hit with a D-lock. Another had his bike stolen after being kicked off.

Inspector Justin French said: “We’re aware of a number of incidents this week which have occurred on the Bristol/Bath cycle path.

“This anti-social behaviour is completely unacceptable – the public should be able to feel safe and secure when using the path day or night.

“We will be carrying out further high-visibility patrols along the path this weekend. And we will be using dispersal notices to move anyone acting anti-socially away from the area.

“We’d also urge anyone who spots groups of young people being intimidating, anti-social or blocking the path to call 101 or 999 if they fear a crime is being committed.

“If you have information about the incidents, or have any concerns you would like to raise with us, please call us and ask to speak to your local neighbourhood team.”

Several cyclists also told the Bristol Post that they felt the route needed better lighting.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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11 comments

Avatar
cptlik | 5 years ago
3 likes

Its not "anti-social" its bloody criminal!

Avatar
riggbeck | 5 years ago
0 likes

I mistakenly moved to Bristol 10 years ago believing that it was a good place to be a cyclist, it was promoted as a great cycling city, after 6 months I couldn't take any more and retreated back North. When cycling is your life it is a depressing place to be, especially when you know better.

Muggings and aggression on this bit of cycle path were all to common then and it appears nothing has changed. Sad times.

Avatar
Shades | 5 years ago
0 likes

Gives the 'you won't get me out of my car onto a bike unless you prise it out of my cold dead hands' gang a perfect excuse.  Well done UK, we've even managed to create an environment where some responsible people trying to travel healthily in a sustainable manner have been threatened.

Thankfully I'm rarely on that bit of the path; I wouldn't trust the roads around there as the drivers are pretty 'lawless'.

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
1 like

If it was the choice of this route or the roads, I know which I'd take. 

The problem is as soon as you forcefully defend yourself then you'll be deemed a child beater and no doubt the police will persue you as the easy target rather than the Dick Turpins. 

Violence begets violence except when you're too scared about losing your job to smash these little shits around the face with a chain. 

Avatar
brooksby replied to Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
0 likes

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

If it was the choice of this route or the roads, I know which I'd take. 

The problem is as soon as you forcefully defend yourself then you'll be deemed a child beater and no doubt the police will persue you as the easy target rather than the Dick Turpins. 

Violence begets violence except when you're too scared about losing your job to smash these little shits around the face with a chain. 

I wonder what would be safely treated as a "proportional response" if there are 10-15 teenagers and/or young adults being threatening toward you, at night, and you fear for your possessions and your health as a direct consequence?

Avatar
bikeman01 | 5 years ago
3 likes

Seems likely to me that this is a single gang of youths responsible for every one of these incidents - it shouldn't be too hard to identify them.

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Kadinkski | 5 years ago
12 likes

High-visibility patrols are a waste of time unless the police plan to do them indefinitely. The scrotes just move on while the patrol is there. They should nick them by dressing as normal commuters and riding along the route.

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Luv2ride replied to Kadinkski | 5 years ago
2 likes

Kadinkski wrote:

High-visibility patrols are a waste of time unless the police plan to do them indefinitely. The scrotes just move on while the patrol is there. They should nick them by dressing as normal commuters and riding along the route.

^This.  It's pretty appalling that this kind of antisocial/illegal activity will make people think twice about cycling to work rather than driving, or perhaps taking up cycling at all.  The path should be a safe, family-friendly amenity for all to use.  Very depressing. But having plain clothes bike patrols might be more effective than high visibility ones.  Shame they're needed at all though.

Avatar
kil0ran | 5 years ago
6 likes

Now that there's very little point in nicking mobiles bikes are a great target for muggings. Often high value, easily moved on, and with segregated paths easy hunting for thieves. Add in the fun element of knocking people off their bikes and I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. I was always cautious of ones with no alternative route (i.e. properly segregated, under or over bridges) and tended to ride on the road, particularly at night. We're really easy targets, and you just know if you cliffed one of the scrotes with D-lock or ran them over escaping you'd end up being Allistoned.

Avatar
Canyon48 | 5 years ago
1 like

I used to use this path multiple times every week, unfortunately, a couple things put me off and I haven't used it since;

I had a bit of a hairy moment when a group of youths blocked both ends of the path beneath one of the bridges with me trapped in the middle (it was fairly obvious what they were trying to do), fortunately, I did my best Sagan-esque sprint and, combined with some questionable off-path riding managed to get by before they did anything funny.

I've also seen a lot of drug use and quite a few kids on mopeds on the path.

 

It's no surprise, the path goes through some of the most deprived areas of Bristol. The children who grow up there have no spaces to be children, instead its just roads and alleys. The few, very small, green spaces aren't particularly safe for children  7

Avatar
earth replied to Canyon48 | 5 years ago
1 like

Canyon48 wrote:

It's no surprise, the path goes through some of the most deprived areas of Bristol. The children who grow up there have no spaces to be children, instead its just roads and alleys. The few, very small, green spaces aren't particularly safe for children  7

 

The few, very small, green spaces?  Like eastville park you mean?  

fishing lake
dog-free playground for under 15s with basketball area
play area for under 12s
three football pitches
tennis court
one mile running circuit
one bowling green

 

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